MWCToys.com Review: Hot Toys Batman Cosbaby – The Nolan Series

We’re closing out Son of Guest Review Week with one of the best in the business, Michael Crawford! He may cringe at the thought, but I’ve been enjoying his toy reviews since I was in high school. He sets the gold standard for toy reviews and I’m elated that he agreed to participate in guest review week!

Packaging – **1/2
Most of the Cosbaby figures have been packed in bubble/cardback packaging, allowing you to see the figure. Not so this time, where they are blind boxed.

Regular readers know how much I hate blind boxing, especially on something that costs almost $10, but there are no hidden figures, thankfully. If you buy the larger box set of nine figures, you will get one of each for a complete group.

The box is pretty basic, but it does have a small photo of each figure in the set on the side, so you’ll know what you’re looking for.

Sculpting – ***1/2
These are fairly small figures, usually lumped in with the vinyl category although they are solid plastic. Larger than mini-mates, they are more in line with Mezco’s smaller Mez-itz. Each stands about 3″ tall.

The basic style is somewhat simplistic, with lots of rectangles and circles. And yet Hot Toys has managed to take this basic set of construction pieces and add enough sculpting detail – sometimes a little, sometimes a lot – to give them their own unique personality.

The masks are generally not removable, and that includes both Bank Robber Joker and Bane. Catwoman is an exception, but more on that in the Accessories section.

Paint – ***1/2
Hot Toys is probably best known for the ultra-realistic production paint work on their sixth scale action figures. Obviously, that wouldn’t be appropriate here, but their overall quality and clean lines are still evident in this more basic application.

For some of the characters, the paint work is less detailed. That’s due to less detailing in the costumes themselves, as is the case with Catwoman and the Batmen.

But with other characters, like Bane and the Bank Robber Joker, the amount of detail work is really quite impressive. The overall feel might be a bit cartoony, but Bane’s face cover is just as realistic looking as you can get.

Articulation – ***
Every figure has the same articulation, since the base body is identical.

There’s a true ball jointed neck, but every one of mine was stuck. Don’t go twisting the head right away – rock it back and forth and side to side first until you’re sure it’s not stuck.

The hips are also true ball joints, and allow the legs quite a bit of mobility. It also means that you’ll have no trouble finding the center of gravity in just about any stance.

There’s also a simple pin shoulder, cut wrists and a cut waist. Most of the figures can’t really use the waist, since the long coats restrict them, but they can also pop apart at this joint (shoulders and wrists, too) for swapping around…if you’re into that sort of thing. Continue to Page 2…